Valuable utilisation of spray dryer ash and its performance in structural concrete

This paper focuses on the valuable utilisation of spray dryer ash (SDA) and investigates its performance in concrete for structural applications. Based on the challenges associated with the disposal of coal combustion products (including SDA) and the economic costs linked to cement production, this research seeks to provide an environmentally friendly and more cost-effective concrete product by utilising SDA in partial replacement of cement in concrete. With the exception of a relatively high-sulphur content, SDA exhibits very useful properties that are closely related to Class C fly ash and Portland cement.

Experimental tests were carried out to determine the effect of SDA replacement of Portland cement (ranging from 0 to 50% replacement) on the compressive strength, bond strength, freeze-thaw performance and corrosion resistance of concrete. The addition of SDA in non-air entrained concrete provided a general increase in its strength with optimal limits ranging between 25 and 35% replacement. The addition of SDA produced a negligible effect on the freeze-thaw durability of the concrete (air entrained). Results for corrosion performance were not as definitive, but indicate that the use of SDA does not significantly change the likelihood of reinforcing bar corrosion.     

高炉渣资源化生产绿色建材的环境效益评估——基于生命周期的视角

高炉渣是钢铁厂高炉炼铁产生的矿渣,具有较高的资源化价值,可用于生产多种绿色建材产品。熔融高炉渣经水急冷后形成的粒化高炉矿渣,粉磨成矿渣微粉可作为水泥混合材和混凝土掺合料。以高炉渣资源化过程为研究对象,采用生命周期清单分析方法,并基于GaBi 4软件平台,对我国某建材企业综合利用高炉渣生产矿渣硅酸盐水泥和商品混凝土全过程的能源消耗、原材料消耗和温室气体排放进行了分析,进而从节能、降耗和碳减排三方面评估其环境效益。结果表明,与普通硅酸盐水泥相比,矿渣硅酸盐水泥可分别实现节约能源1 911 MJ/t(节能26%),降低原材料消耗1 158 kg/t(降耗27%),减少碳排放236 kg/t(碳减排26%);与复合硅酸盐水泥相比,矿渣硅酸盐水泥可实现节约能源352 MJ/t(节能6%),降低原材料消耗278 kg/t(降耗8%),减少碳排放47 kg/t(碳减排7%)。与不掺加矿粉的普通商品混凝土比较,掺矿粉的商品混凝土可实现节约能源97 MJ/m3(节能5%),降低原材料消耗7 kg/m3(降耗0.3%),减少碳排放12 kg/m3(碳减排5%)。高炉渣资源化生产矿渣硅酸盐水泥和商品混凝土具有明显的环境效益。     

Development and analysis of high-performance green concrete in the urban infrastructure

Cement production accounts for approximately 5% of total global CO₂ emissions from all human activities. In addition, the consumption of virgin aggregates for concrete infrastructure has created virgin material scarcity issues in many areas of the USA. High-performance green concrete (HPGC) with fly ash and recycled aggregates can help reduce the demand for material inputs and reduce pollution outputs associated with bulk material flow of urban concrete. Structural and durability tests showed that HPGC containing fly ash and 50% recycled aggregate (100% of the coarse aggregate fraction) performed equally or better than 100% ordinary Portland cement concrete with the same cementitious content. Durability improvements were more significant with Class F than Class C fly ash. For both Class F and Class C fly ash, greater per cent replacement of Portland cement with fly ash led to slower and lower strength gain, but still within acceptable strength criteria for Colorado Department of Transportation Class B concrete. This paper quantifies the sustainability of HPGC in urban infrastructure by addressing structural performance, environmental, economic and resource depletion impacts.     

Laboratory study on sustainable use of cement–fly ash–polypropylene fiber-stabilized dredged material

The major problem associated with gravity dam was siltation of reservoir which reduced its effective water storage capacity. In order to maintain effective storage capacity of reservoir, dredging of deposits was required and dredged material was disposed of haphazardly causing damage to the sensitive environment. A better alternative could be the possibility of utilization of dredged deposits in construction works involving large quantities of material. The dredged material consisted of very fine sandy silt possessing poor geotechnical characteristics and was required to be stabilized with suitable additives before use as construction material. This laboratory investigation evaluated geotechnical properties of dredged reservoir material stabilized with cement, fly ash and fiber for its probable use as subbase in lightly trafficked roads. Compaction, unconfined compressive strength and tensile strength tests were performed on appropriate combinations of the constituent materials. The results of study revealed significant improvement in unconfined compressive strength and split tensile strength after stabilization with cement and fly ash. The unconfined compressive strength and split tensile strength of cement–fly ash-stabilized dredged reservoir material improved further upon addition of polypropylene fiber. The composite possessed the potential to be utilized as sustainable material in subbase of roads subject to further validation before application in the field. The dredging of sediments improved effective storage capacity of reservoir and increased its sustainable life period. The utilization of fly ash could diminish the environmental and economic concerns arising out of its haphazard disposal.     

钢铁冶炼渣的综合利用及发展对策

钢铁冶炼渣是钢铁企业开展资源利用的重点，冶炼渣的综合利用途径及利用水平与处理加工技术有密切关系，冶炼渣最多，影响大，易见成效，有利于综合利用工作向纵深发展，本文提出了合理利用建议。     

Biotechnologies and bioinspired materials for the construction industry: an overview

Looking back to less than three centuries of industrialization, responsible for alarming levels of pollution and consumption of non-renewable resources that has led to the exhaustion of the earth's capacity, the humankind only now begins to grasp the overwhelming potential of natural systems. During almost 40 million centuries, Nature has developed materials and processes with optimal performance which are totally biodegradable. Analysis of bioinspired materials requires the knowledge of both biological and engineering principles which are being a part of a large research area termed biotechnology. This hot area is one of the six strategic Key Enabling Technologies that will be funded under the EU Framework Programme Horizon 2020. This paper reviews the current knowledge on the potential of this emerging field, particularly in the development of materials and technologies for the construction industry. It covers the use of bacteria for enhancing concrete durability and for soil stabilization. It also covers bioinspired tough composite materials, bioinspired adhesives and coatings, and self-cleaning materials. Incorporation of biology basics in the civil engineering curriculum would ease the communication between biologists and civil engineers, helping to foster research on biotechnologies and bioinspired materials for the construction industry.     

民用建筑生命周期固体废弃物排放的资源环境压力

降低民用建筑生命周期固体废弃物排放带来的资源环境压力,促进经济发展逐步走上资源减量化和环境减压化的轨道,是全社会面临的共同问题。本文借用生态足迹方法和能值分析方法,构建了民用建筑生命周期各阶段固体废弃物排放的资源环境压力计算模型,并以沈阳市图书馆为例,进行了实证研究。结果表明:废弃水泥排放引起的资源环境压力分别占施工阶段生态足迹的48.56%,占使用与维护阶段生态足迹的82.78%,占拆除及废弃建材处置阶段生态足迹的56.73%;而废弃商品混凝土排放造成的资源环境压力在施工阶段生态足迹和拆除及废弃建材处置阶段生态足迹中的比例分别为31.90%和37.26%;就生命周期各阶段而言,拆除及废弃建材处置阶段固体废弃物排放的资源占用足迹最大,占总足迹的92.91%,使用与维护阶段资源占用足迹最小,占总足迹的1.06%。因此,民用建筑在生命周期各阶段削减固体废弃物排放量的重点是减少水泥和商品混凝土的用量,多开发可替代混凝土结构的钢结构或组合结构形式的民用建筑。     

Life cycle assessment environmental data for structural steel construction in Greece

The construction industry is a critical sector in relation to sustainable development as its optimisation in terms of the consumption of resources can provide significant environmental benefits. To achieve this, a number of tools and methodologies have been developed to assist decision making. Life cycle assessment is one of the most acknowledged and widely used methodologies to assess the sustainability of construction works. Its efficient use, however, requires environmental data that in some cases are not yet available. Especially for sectors such as steel construction in which the potential for sustainable development is increased due to the recycling and reuse potential of the material, the lack of such data slows sustainability-related progress down. The current research addresses this issue by collecting primary environmental data for cold-formed structural steel and compiling the required data-sets. The data-sets are used to assess the environmental impact of an existing steel building and identify how and to what extent the environment is burdened by its construction. The findings of the research include the aforementioned environmental data which can be used in environmental analyses related to construction projects, while additional conclusions concerning the environmental impact of steel buildings in terms of quantity and type were also drawn.     

Effect of cement content and recycled rubber particle size on the performance of rubber-modified concrete

According to the Rubber Manufacturer’s Association, the United States generated 3664 thousand metric tons of scrap tires in 2015. While most waste tires are repurposed, approximately 409.5 thousand metric tons were disposed in landfills. This study investigates an alternative use of the waste tires as a replacement of natural aggregates in concrete mixtures. This study investigated fresh concrete properties and compressive strength. Different coarse and fine aggregate rubber particle sizes were evaluated: 19-mm tire chips (TCs) and 30-mesh crumb rubber (CR). TCs were used to replace coarse aggregates, while CR was used to replace fine aggregate in the concrete mixtures in increments of 10% by volume. Concrete strength loss was reduced with a fine aggregate replacement with CR as opposed to greater losses of strength exhibited by a coarse aggregate replacement with TCs. Adequate strengths were achieved at replacement levels as high as 40% by volume with CR, whereas satisfactory strengths were achieved with only a 10% replacement of coarse aggregates with TCs. Acceptable strengths were obtained from mixtures utilizing a combination of the two rubber sizes. Cement content was observed to have greater influence on rubberized concrete compressive strength at lower rubber contents than higher levels.     

Sustainable monitoring of concrete structures: strength and durability performance of polymer-modified self-sensing concrete

Concrete structures all over the world are reaching the end of their service life sooner than expected. This is due to the fact that ordinary Portland cement-based concrete deteriorates under environmental actions and also that structural inspections and conservation actions are expensive. Besides, as they consume energy and non-renewable resources, they have negative environmental impacts. Self-sensing concrete provides an alternative way of monitoring concrete-reinforced structures at a much lesser cost and with lesser environmental impact. Although the short-term mechanical properties of these materials are usually well documented, the long-term durability issues about carbon fibre concrete still deserve further investigations. This paper reports some investigation of the strength and durability characteristics of several concrete mixtures modified with different percentages of polymer and carbon fibre addition. The results show that the addition of carbon fibre decreases the strength and increases water penetration under pressure and also increases chloride diffusion, whereas polymer addition is responsible for a denser microstructure and higher concrete durability.     

Has EU ETS caused carbon leakage in the EU carbon-intensive industries?A study from the perspective of bilateral trade

Reducing carbon leakage is one of the important reasons that was put forward by the EU for their border adjustment tax proposal.However,there are not many empirical evidences supporting significant carbon leakage in the EU carbonintensive industries.This paper applied the structural breakpoint test for the time series of import and export of cement,aluminum,and steel between EU and China.No significant structural changes were detected in the import and export of cement and aluminum.However,there proved to be two breakpoints,i.e.,2003 and 2008,in the import and export of steel,in which at the second point the overall level of steel import increased.Furthermore,Granger causality test was applied to the carbon price from European Climate Exchange and the import and export of steel.It was found that the carbon price was the Granger cause for the changes of steel import,but not the Granger cause for the export.The results of the study showed that the impacts of EU ETS on the EU carbon-intensive industries were limited.Among the three industries,partial evidence of carbon leakage was only found in the steel industry.Therefore,reducing carbon leakage could not serve as a convincing justification for border adjustment tax.     

Sustainable ternary cement blends with high-volume ground granulated blast furnace slag–fly ash

Environment, Development and Sustainability - Coal fly ash and granulated ground blast furnace slag (GGBS) are more widely used as supplementary cementitious materials in cement production. This...     

Initial design process of the sustainability science ontology for knowledge-sharing to support co-deliberation

Implementation of the sustainability science (SS) approach is often difficult because of poor communication between experts from different academic fields. We focused on ontology engineering as a method of knowledge structuring that supports the co-deliberation process. However, SS is too broad for a few experts to construct an ontology because SS targets and covers almost all existing research fields from the viewpoint of problem-solving. The N-iteration process is required for completing an SS ontology. In the present paper, we discuss the initial design process for constructing an ontology on SS from the aspect of a knowledge-sharing tool to support co-deliberation. First, we identified the SS ontology by referring to the existing literature. Second, we traced the structuring process of the SS ontology, which is independent of the existing research domain. Third, we compared the SS ontology with existing ontologies or concept structures on SS. Fourth, we assessed the SS ontology produced in the initial process in terms of relevance and coverage and addressed areas for improvement in order to facilitate co-deliberation among researchers from different domains. As a result of developing the SS ontology and applying it to the mapping tool that we developed based on the ontology, we found the following three points: the SS ontology enables us to define concepts relevant to SS without overlapping by distinguishing part-of and attribute-of relationships at the upper level of the ontology; the SS-based mapping tool successfully represents the potential countermeasures required by the targeted problem for all scientific fields except experimental engineering; however, the SS ontology requires further improvement in order to represent the conceptual linkage arising from compound and secondary problems and the fulfillment of classes at the lower hierarchy of Shortage problem, and requires slots for the entire hierarchy. In addition, based on the discussion of the areas for improvement, we found that missing slots and classes should be added in the process in which we use or improve tools corresponding to a variety of requirements for supporting co-deliberation. In this way, we are able to propose an incremental process for constructing the SS ontology from the aspect of a knowledge-sharing tool to support co-deliberation.     

CDM Project Activities in China＇s Iron and Steel Industry：Current Status,Barriers and Development Strategies

China is now facing huge pressure from both the domestic concern of energy security and the global community's call for emission reduction commitment. As one of the major energy consumers and greenhouse gas emitters, China's iron and steel industry has a huge clean development mechanism (CDM) potential. This article both quantitatively and qualitatively analyzes the current status of CDM project activities in the iron and steel industry in China, including characteristics of approved project types, applicable methodologies, and potential technology fields. From the perspective of project implementation, the article summarizes development barriers such as high investment risk, difficulty in project identification, strict requirements on PPDs, long registration waiting time, and etc. Policy suggestions are also put forwarded to help better promote the development of CDM projects in the iron and steel industry.     

Emission of ammonia from indoor concrete wall and assessment of human exposure

Addition of urea-based antifreeze admixtures during cement mixing can make it possible to produce concrete cement in construction of buildings in cold weather; this, however, has led to increasing indoor air pollution due to continuous transformation and emission from urea to gaseous ammonia in indoor concrete wall. It is believed that ammonia is harmful to human body and exposure to ammonia can cause some serious symptoms such as headaches, burns, and even permanent damage to the eyes and lungs. In order to understand the emission of ammonia from indoor concrete wall in civil building and assess the health risk of people living in these buildings, the experimental pieces of concrete wall were first prepared by concreting cement and urea-based antifreeze admixtures to simulate the indoor wall in civil building in this work. Then environmental chamber was adopted for studying the effect of temperature, relative humility and air exchange rate on emission of ammonia from experimental pieces of concrete wall. Also the field experiment was made at selected rooms in given civil buildings. Exposure and potential dose of adult and children exposed to indoor/outdoor ammonia in summer and in winter are calculated and evaluated by using Scenario Evaluation Approach. The results indicated that high air exchange rate leads to decreased ammonia concentration, and elevation of temperature causes increasing ammonia concentration and volatilizing rate in chamber. The complete emission of ammonia from the wall containing urea-based antifreeze admixtures needs more than 10 years in general. Ventilating or improving air exchange can play a significant role in reducing ammonia concentration in actual rooms in field experiments. Urea-based antifreeze admixtures in concrete wall can give rise to high exposure and potential dose, especially in summer. Generally, adults have a high potential dose than children, while children have personal average dose rate beyond adults in the same conditions.     

Evaluation and application of blast furnace slag as a mud cake modifier

The aim of this research was to reuse blast furnace slag (BFS) as a mud cake modifier (MCM) to improve the annular isolation quality in oil and gas wells. For the optimum formula of drilling fluid, the effects of MCM on the drilling fluid rheology were investigated. The relationship between the MCM addition and shear strength at cement–formation interface (SSCFI) was evaluated. The experimental results showed that the optimized formula of the drilling fluid has 1.0 wt% MCM and 0.5 wt% XY-27. The simulation results showed that SSCFI increased significantly with the addition of MCM. Based on the mechanism analysis of BFS as an MCM to improve SSCFI, it is found that the transformation of mud cake to agglomerated cake can be the main reason. The application results showed that the success rate of five wells reached 100%, and the rate of quality in cement was 100%. Especially, the average high quality rate of five wells reached 83.7%. Compared with conventional methods, the average high quality rate is increased by 32.6% points. This research provides a new way for sustainable utilization of BFS.     

The spatial-temporal differentiation of green land use in Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei urban agglomeration

ABSTRACT

As the space carrier of the construction of ecological civilization, land’s green and efficient utilization is an important guarantee for realizing national sustainable development. Based on traditional land evaluation, this paper scientifically defines the green land use, puts land as one of the production factors, and brings energy consumption, environmental pollution, etc. into the input-output system to measure the green land utilization efficiency of the urban construction land of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Urban Agglomeration from 2006 to 2016. The study shows that the overall efficiency variation of the urban agglomeration is related with the land and environment policies. Efficiency of 2016 is higher than that of 2006, and energy and environment are the principal factors affecting the green land use. The efficiency of each city is positively correlated with its economic development, negatively correlated with the construction land expansion. Efficiency gaps in different cities are expanding. There is positive correlation with overall weak space between cities, and the partial spatial agglomeration phenomenon appears. Therefore, the green land use efficiency could be improved by improving land utilization efficiency, coordinating economic growth of construction land utilization with environmental protection and taking feasible ways to transregional renovation of the stock ecological land utilization, etc.     

我国废钢铁资源的可持续利用政策

本文概述了我国废钢铁资源回收利用的现状以及钢铁工业对废钢铁资源的需求现状，用三种不同的模型预测了未来钢铁工业的发展对废钢铁资源的需求，提出了废钢铁资源可持续利用存在的问题和政策建议。     

绿色产业与绿色产业法

环境保护产业化是环保工作发展的主要趋势之一。在理论研究和实际工作中。环保产业、环境产业、绿色产业等概念的研究与应用日趋增多。就环境法学而言，界定一个适应环保产业发展的相关概念，并研究其相关法制的构建与发展是十分必要的。绿色产业与绿色产业法研究正是这一思路的具体落实。     

经济快速发展地区土地利用结构的时空演变——以苏锡常地区为例

利用1996～2007年苏锡常地区土地利用变更数据，从土地利用变化幅度、动态度、变化强度、相对变化率及景观生态学角度，对区域土地利用结构的动态变化及区域差异进行分析。研究结果表明：近十多年来，由于区域经济快速发展，工业用地扩展迅猛，城镇加速蔓延，从而导致区内耕地面积锐减，居民点及工矿用地、交通用地所占比例则逐年上升，交通用地的变化幅度及动态度最大；各用地类型的变化强度在此期间呈一定波动，除牧草地外，交通用地历年的变化强度之和最大，其次为园地、居民点及工矿用地、水利设施用地、耕地、其他农用地、林地、未利用地；区域土地利用结构逐渐向均衡状态发展，用地结构的均质性逐渐增强，地区土地利用结构渐趋稳定；各市耕地、居民点及工矿用地、其他农用地的变化幅度及相对变化率差别不大，而园地、林地、牧草地、交通用地、水利设施用地及未利用地的变化幅度及相对变化率区域差异较大，且三市园地、牧草地及未利用地的变化方向不一致。